The others he was hinting at were Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and V V S Laxman whose combined failure along with Ganguly's, cost India the Test series in Lanka.

Another former skipper Ajit Wadekar, however, feels that all the four vastly experienced senior batsmen, including the Bengal stalwart, should be in the team to take on the mighty Australians in the four-Test series commencing next month.

"The journey to re-build the team has started. This (omission of Ganguly) may be the way the selectors are planning for the future. Also this will keep others (seniors) on their toes. It's some sort of a signal to them," Borde said from Pune. The incident is reminiscent of India's landmark series in Pakistan in 1978.